Could the age of New Imperialism be avoided?

SavoyTruffle

SavoyTruffle

By the 1880s, the dust had settled on Europe and its Great Powers. The UK, in the midst of the Pax Britannica, led the pack, with the newborn German Empire as its newfound rival. Meanwhile, old mainstays France, Russia and Austria-Hungary retained their influence, while a newly united Italy also sought to prove itself on the global stage. The United States would slowly become aware of its Great Power status in the ensuing decades, so would Japan, recently roused from its isolationism.

Thus began the period known as New Imperialism - whereupon the powers of the world divided up the rest of it as spoils, primarily focusing on Africa and Asia (as the Americas were largely seen as off-limits due to the Monroe Doctrine). The Berlin Conference paved the way for the Scramble for Africa, where native African cultures were subjected to the whims of colonialism. In addition, Southeast Asia also became a hotbed for colonial ambitions, with even lesser powers like the Dutch holding their own colonial empires. The teetering edifice of the Qing Empire meant opportunity for soft power extension among the powers, where in a break from usual policy the drawing of explicit borders of influence was eschewed in favor of treaty ports and other one-sided agreements.

But was it possible to avert this time altogether?
 
Gabingston

Gabingston

A major, continent-wide war in the Mid-Late 19th Century in Europe could weaken the great European powers to where less of Africa and Asia is colonized.
 

profxyz

One interesting contributor to New Imperialism might be the 1871 Treaty of Washington between the UK and US, which laid down new rules for the behavior of neutral states in war.

Prior to this, UK interpreted maritime neutrality quite loosely, in practice allowing its ports to supply + outfit the warships of belligerent states, especially commerce raiders. This of course led to the situation during the American Civil War, when Confederate raiders outfitted + based out of neutral ports wreaked global havoc on Union shipping. As such, the Treaty of Washington proposed that neutrals be banned from 1) outfitting likely-belligerent vessels; 2) supplying belligerent vessels; and 3) selective enforcement of neutrality laws.

UK didn't formally accept these rules, but with the principle established in the Treaty, various European powers which had previously relied on neutral ports as part of their commerce protection/destruction strategies were obliged to acquire colonial bases of their own, especially Germany.
 
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